The Bright List

Sex, Love, Marriage, (and the F-Word!) in the Muslim Women's World

Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women, edited by Nura Maznavi and Ayesha Mattu

Romance, dating, sex, and—Muslim women talking for themselves! Talk about taboos broken and stereotypes torpedoed.  

The F-Word? Feminism, of course,  breaking down every silent door.

"A quintessential blonde California girl travels abroad to escape suffocating responsibilities at home, only to fall in love with a handsome Brazilian stranger she may never see again. 

"An orthodox African-American woman must face her growing attraction to her female friend. 

"A young girl defies her South Asian parents' cultural expectations with an interracial relationship.

"And a Southern woman agrees to consider an arranged marriage, with surprising results."

This book has made a huge impression everywhere it's been discussed-- and there's not a book critic in America who hasn't weighed in. The title sounds titillating, but these real-life stories are frank, earnest, and real. 

Nura Maznavi and Ayesha Mattu made fantastic selections, there's not one repitition or predictable exposition.

"Love InshAllah [goes] to a place where few, if any, books have gone before.

Lesbians, co-wives, converts to Islam, Shia, Sunni, black, brown and white: Every voice is unique. Collectively, they sing of strength, passion and love. One can't help but to sit back and listen, captivated."

—Samina Ali, author of Madras on Rainy Days

Narrated by a fantastic multi-voice cast Lameece Issaq, Lauren Fortgang, Erin Moon, Piper Goodeve,and Julia Farha. It meant so much to the narrators and director to represent the entire spectrum of Muslim women in America... it's our honor to present these groundbreaking stories.

-Aretha Bright 

Erica Jong's "Fanny"— What If Tom Jones Had Been a Woman?

Fanny Being the True Adventures of Fanny Hackabout Jones, by Erica Jong

 “What if Tom Jones had been a woman? What if Fanny Hill had been as witty as she was sensuous? What if Moll Flanders had been as tenderhearted as she was tough?”

—Erica Jong 

Written as an answer to Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure (popularly known as Fanny Hill) by John Cleland, the first English language pornographic novel, Fanny is an extensively-researched novel of adventure and debauchery.

Jong, after Fear of Flying, was criticized as a woman writer who wrote about sex and was accused of heaving "loose morals." She decided to write a novel, using her M.A. in 18th century English literature, from the point of view of a similarly-maligned heroine.

Jong brings a poet’s spirit to everything she writes, and here she deftly assumes the episodic, ornate writing style of eighteenth century novels— while bringing a sly understanding of women’s psychology absent from the books of the time.

Abandoned on the doorstep of an English manor, Fanny is brought up by the manor’s Lord and Lady. When she develops into a comely lass, she is “ravished” by her stepfather and runs away. What follows are a series of adventures showing the different strata of English life at the time and an intellectual, sensual coming of age story.

Fanny is Jong’s best selling book after Fear of Flying and was enormously popular when it was released. Now you can listen our narrator,  the arch and witty Nicola Barber, whose long resumé with Audible includes The Rose Garden and Call the Midwife.

--Willow Pennell

Portrait of a Marriage—Before Gay Liberation

Double Life: A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood, by Alan Shayne and Norman Sunshine  

The story of a legendary same-sex marriage between two of New York’s most admired art-world AND Broadway stars.

Shayne was a Broadway actor who went on to produce many hit TV shows (Wonder Woman), and retired as President of Warner Brothers Television in 1986.

Sunshine has been a successful and celebrated artist and sculptor. The two trade off writing every chapter—a dual memoir! 

Double Life covers both of their coming-of-age stories: childhood snippets, how they met, and lots of honesty around their relationship’s ups and downs.

The second half is kind of like Ill-Equipped for a Life of Sex—truthful, but not uncomfortable.

Within their careers and relationships, there is a solid history of the entertainment worlds with plenty of gossip; from Marlon Brando on Broadway to the New York art scene in the 1950s and 60s to TV and The Dukes of Hazzard.

Double Life has hit a nerve among longtime gay couples, particularly men, who ask, “Where are we? How come there are no stories about us?”  It’s completely delightful and real—I can see why this has been a sleeper hit. 

Narrated by Ethan Sawyer, who we loved so much in Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son.

 --Aretha Bright and Willow Pennell

Tristan Taormino on Audio! - Sex Advice from The Woman Who Turned Vanilla On Its Head

 

Down and Dirty Sex Secrets: The New and Naughty Guide to Being Great in Bed, by Tristan Taormino

I’m picky about sex advice, but this is one of the must-have’s. 

Whether you’re happily vanilla or the type who’ll try anything, this book will probably give you a few ideas to make it even more satisfying and fun, either alone or with a partner (or two).

Taormino is without a doubt the hardest-working sex educator today. She’s in the news constantly, a multi-media threat with her feminist porn and educational videos, her VoiceAmerica radio show, or her new Feminist Porn Book: The Politics of Producing Pleasure. With a devoted and ardent fan base, Tristan is the go-to gal for many women and men who want the real scoop on imaginative, out-of-the-box sex.

Down and Dirty Sex Secrets covers oral sex, multiple orgasms, strap-ons, female ejaculation, erotica, S&M, sex toys, and more. Her warm conversational tone makes the book much more accessible, especially if you’re encountering some of these ideas for the first time.

Even though she speaks with unmistakable authority, I feel like I'm  having a fun chat over lunch!

Narrated by the charming Tristan Taormino herself, along with co-narrators  Madison Vaughn, and Bryce Hamilton,  who specialize in sexuality and romance at Audible.

--Aretha Bright

Society's Child WINS! -- Stefan Rudnicki, Janis Ian at the Grammy's

Songwriter and music legend Janis Ian won Grammy last night for audiobook of her 
memoir, Society’s Child. 
Society Child
 
The fellow to her right is her audio producer, Stefan Rudnicki, who introduced me to 
audio storytelling and produced my entire Best American Erotica series. 
Stefan is someone you feel honored to know and work with— an incredible dramatist, audiophile, director and producer. I'm bursting my buttons just looking at this photo. 
So great to see artists celebrated like this, who aren't always in the pop cult spotlight!

Vicki Hendricks: Florida Noir At Its Finest, on Audio

 

The Vicki Hendricks Collection

"A private ticket into a secret world of desire and sex and the raw edge between them."

—Michael Connelly 

Vicki Hendricks is the female version of Carl Hiaasen— and Carl would  be the first to tell you.

She's a national bestselling author who specializes in Florida Gothic, thriller, and mysteries— that always have plenty of steamy sex. Hendricks is literary noir at its best. I remember discovering her first stories in the 90s and literally screaming in my bed as turned the penultimate page.

The Bright List has had the pleasure of producing Vicki Hendrick's top 5 books into audio:

Voluntary Madness

The Bonnie & Clyde for the 21st century. 

Punch is a beautiful man in his forties, dying from alcohol abuse and diabetes. Juliette is his adoring girlfriend, willing to do anything for him. Together they have made a twisted pact: to live a wild life in Key West for a year, before they end it all.  

Punch and Juliette's craziness accelerates. She flashes her tits at every public occasion; he pretends to be blind in public. They break into Hemingway's house to have sex— surely one of the bucket list. But the games turn dangerous when a guard at the house interrupts them— and dies in the assault. Way out of her depth, Juliette has to decide whether she'll keep her part of her lovers' pact.

Narrated by Staci Anderson.

When You're a Love Junkie, There's Only One Way Out

Love Junkie, by Rachel Resnick

The pinnacle memoir of love and sex addiction, in time for Valentine's Day!  Cupid, take your bow and shove it.

Rachel Resnick picks up her pen in her forties— single, broke, depressed, and childless. What happened?

Looking back over the years, Rachel peels back one exquisite yet failed relationship after another to discover why she's so far away from her dreams of marriage and family. Shouldn't that be the end result, when all you cared about was love? 

Resnick got her first lesson in passion from her beautiful and addicted mother, who took her children to a brink that few have experienced. It affected Resnick for the rest of her life. I remember meeting Rachel and Janet Finch of White Oleander in a green room at a writers festival one afternoon... and we had a goosebumps moment of mutual recognition: the survivors club of filicide.

Love Junkie was an indie bookstore bestseller in Southern California, where many of her fans remembered her debut book, "Go West Young Fucked Up Chick." With a title like that, you knew there was more to come!

LJ is superbly narrated by Lauren Weedman, who you'll recognize from True Blood and Hung. Lauren brings out the humor and the pathos in each scene, top notch.